Microsoft reports profits of $4.52bn: Kin crisis eclipsed by Windows 7
Microsoft has amassed a quarterly profit of four and a half billion dollars, crediting sales of Windows 7, Bing revenue and its Xbox division for the jump in profit. But has it beaten Apple?
Microsoft has reported quarterly profits of $4.52bn (£2.96bn), saying that sales of Windows 7 and Xbox Live subscriptions helped the software giant boost its gargantuan income.
Peter Klein, Microsoft's chief financial officer, was heard to remark, "The revenue growth, combined with our ongoing cost discipline, helped us achieve another quarter of margin expansion."
We're not sure what those words mean, but this is smashing news for the peeps in Redmond, who recently lost a huge chunk of change when they had to abandon the Kin mobile phones on account of minuscule sales.
Microsoft made a mahoosive $16.04bn in revenue, and also credited strong sales from Bing. Windows 7, however, is the flowery centrepiece on Microsoft's table, and has apparently shifted more than 175 million licenses to date. Very tidy.
Microsoft has managed to stay just ahead of Apple in the profit race -- the iPhone-churning Cupertino company reported a net profit of $3.25bn (that's £2.1bn in real money).
With its gaming range bolstered with the new Xbox 360 Slim and Kinect motion controller, and Windows Phone 7 hitting the mobile industry later in the year, this could be a monster year for everyone's favourite mega-corporation. Stay tuned...